A Reddit user has published a post in which he claims that his steering wheel has been damaged and that, even though it has a warranty, Tesla will not fix it. We tell you.
In addition to its electric vehicles, as well as its CEO, Elon Musk, Tesla is known as one of the car brands in which it has been involved in the most controversy. And now, as expected, another controversy has occurred again.
“It’s your hand cream that’s to blame.” This has been the excuse that an official Tesla service has given when it has refused to change the steering wheel of a Tesla Model Y under warranty to a user of the Reddit social network (@Sibo1844).
Tesla’s defective steering wheels
The owner of the Model Y, who posted this post on the social network we mentioned, began to notice how his steering wheel was beginning to degrade noticeably, especially in the side area. First of all, we must take as a starting point that the car was (and is) under warranty.
The surprising thing was that when the owner contacted Tesla, the American automaker didn’t think twice and, without actually inspecting the steering wheel, told him that the problem was in his hand cream.
Fuente: @Sibo1844 Reddit
But this does not stop here, but the American electric vehicle firm told him that they could change the steering wheel with the condition, of course, monetary, that he paid around 1,200 dollars, which is equivalent to about 1,100 euros.
And hey, this doesn’t stop here either. The Reddit user has assured that he does not use hand cream and that he uses his steering wheel normally. Also, as we mentioned, Tesla hasn’t even taken a look at his steering wheel and, from what you can see, I don’t think he intends to.
Tesla claims the steering wheel has no warranty
It should be noted that the problem of wear and tear on vehicle steering wheels is recurrent and, therefore, nothing new. Many people upload to their social networks how they have just bought a car and, after a few months, their leather steering wheels (and other types of materials) end up wearing out. But of course, the logical thing is that manufacturers take a look at the cars, and even more so if they have a warranty.
“The defect that my steering wheel has is not covered by the warranty because Tesla has replaced too many steering wheels under warranty for its other customers,” was the statement made by the owner of the Model Y.
This is what his post said:
“I ignored the feedback from the Tesla service app and went in person to show the faulty steering wheel to the service advisor. “Tesla service wanted us to approve a quote of $1,200 (1,100 euros) to pay for the steering wheel defect, which also included a diagnostic fee, or else they would cancel the appointment.”
“The service advisor said, without having first inspected the steering wheel, that the cause had been the hand cream. Given this, we get angry, because it is clearly defective and we do not use hand cream,” he added.
“It’s the customers’ fault”
“Then the manager came out and, again, said the same thing. That is to say, it is the customers’ fault, and that Tesla stops covering defects in the steering wheels because the firm’s service receives beatings from the engineering team for replacing them under warranty,” he continues in his post.
Likewise, the manager said that the service center is charged again because engineers did “investigation” and found that all of the steering wheel defects in the Model 3 and Model Y were caused by customers, and that it was not a defect of the materials that Tesla uses.
“How can Tesla service determine that my steering wheel is defective due to hand cream? They don’t have any proof… The shocking part is that even Tesla has a service bulletin that says they should replace the steering wheel if it has this defect present,” says the Reddit user.
“Then I asked another technician who came to fix my Tesla Model 3 about something else and, again, he told me the same thing. Tesla service cannot replace steering wheels under warranty because otherwise employees get in trouble. I foresee that the owners will take legal action against this,” he concluded in his post.